Summary: This sermon confronts the audience with the issue of seeking soul satisfaction in anything other than a relationship with God.

Purpose: To cause people to realize if they are seeking soul satisfaction in anything other than God.

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INTRODUCTION:

You are on vacation in the mountains of north Georgia. You have decided to walk a mountain trail at the state park. It’s a hot August afternoon. You finish the hike you are tired and thirsty. As you come to the end of the trail you notice a huge refrigerator with a glass door (like in the convenience stores) filled with bottles of Crystal Springs water. The Sign says Fee water—help yourself. You are so thirsty you cannot wait to walk over to the cooler and help yourself to some cool refreshing water.

As you are satisfying your thirst with this cool clear free water you notice a man coming to the end of the trail. He looks even more tired and thirsty than you are. You just know he cannot wait to get some of this clean refreshing free water. But, to your surprise he stops at the end of the trail and kneels down to drink from a small fish pond at the end of the trail. You passed this fish pond and noticed the gold fish swimming in it—the Lilly pads, a few frogs and a turtle. Like most unattended fish ponds it was filled with algae, the water was green, stagnant, murky.

But, this man has his face down to the fish pond drinking with all his might. You just cannot believe it. Your curiosity gets the best of you so you walk over to the fish pond holding your bottle of Crystal Springs. You ask him—”Why are you drinking out of the fish pond? Don’t you see that cooler full of free Crystal Springs water? You will get sick drinking that polluted water. There is no telling what’s in that water.”

He says to you, “I saw the cooler, but this fish pond was closer, more convenient and I was real thirsty. And besides, didn’t you see this sign?” He pulls back a branch hanging over the fish pond and reveals an old hand painted sign that reads, “Free water—Drink all you want—it will satisfy your thirst”

What would you think about his guy? Would you think he was crazy—Drinking out of the fish pond when he could have clean, cool, refreshing water?

B. I want to ask you this morning—are you drinking out of the fish pond?

1. In our passage today, Israel was guilty of drinking out of the fish pond.

2. There was a clear, fresh, flowing fountain of water available but they chose instead to drink out of the fish pond.